Most food products have an ingredient list on them, not only to let us know if want to put said food in our bodies or not, but also to warn people with food allergies. It was not always this way; people had to fight and petition for their right to know if their bread had trace amounts of deadly-to-some peanuts or if their “fruit juice” had more corn syrup than fruit juice.

As organic and “natural” options become available, we get to know that an apple was grown without the use of harmful pesticides and that a chicken thigh does not include added growth hormones and added antibiotics.

Since non-organic food does not boast that they don’t have added elements like possibly cancer-causing pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones and/or antibiotics, then I can only assume that they do include one or more of the following. Example: Over 80% of our food has atleast one GMO ingredient. My concern is that if any or all of the above additives are present in a food, then why is that information devoid on the labels and ingredient lists?

Other additives, artificial colors/flavors, preservatives etc. are accounted for on the ingredient list. This knowledge gives us the opportunity to, for example, do some internet research to find out which artificial food coloring may be harmful, and then make a personal effort to try to avoid that potentially harmful additive. However, if I am not informed of possibly harmful additives in my food, then I cannot easily avoid them. The FDA is intended to protect America’s food consumers, but it seems logical that ingesting even trace amounts of artificial growth hormones, anti-biotics and pesticides would be detrimental to one's health, even if approved for use and deemed as an indirect ingredient. I deserve to know if my food has come in contact with a substance that may compromise my health.

In the case where a non-labeled food additive causes an ill-effect on health, without knowledge of that additive’s presence, we cannot make the necessary parallel of correlation or discontinue its use.

One example of this is the right that orange growers have to spray their oranges with red dye (used to increase visual appeal and mimic ripeness) that is known to be harmful to humans. The reason they can continue this practice is the argument that people do not eat the peel, and therefore they are not ingesting the harmful additive. This argument should not have been legally validated for the simple reason that it is likely that one will eat orange sections after coming in contact with the harmful dye from peeling the orange, not to mention the fact that orange peel is used in some recipes.

As a consumer, I deserve to know what all IS in my food, not what is NOT in my food. This is the only way I can make educated choices as to what to nourish my body with.

This petition was delivered to:

FDA

Letter to

FDA

I just signed the following petition addressed to: FDA.

----------------Tell us what's in our food.

Most food products have an ingredient list on them, not only to let us know if want to put said food in our bodies or not, but also to warn people with food allergies. It was not always this way; people had to fight and petition for their right to know if their bread had trace amounts of deadly-to-some peanuts or if their “fruit juice” was had more fruit juice than corn syrup. As organic and “natural” options become available, we get to know that an apple was grown without the use of harmful pesticides and that a chicken thigh does not include added growth hormones and added antibiotics. Since non-organic food does not boast that they don’t have added elements like possibly cancer-causing pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones and/or antibiotics, then I can only assume that they do include one or more of the following. My concern is that it any or all of the above additives are present in a food, then why is that information devoid on the labels and ingredient lists?Other additives, artificial colors/flavors, preservatives etc. are accounted for on the ingredient list. This knowledge gives us the opportunity to, for example, to so some internet research to find out which artificial food coloring may be harmful, and then make a personal effort to try to avoid that potentially harmful additive. However, if I am not informed of possibly harmful additives in my food, then I cannot easily avoid them. The FDA is intended to protect America’s food consumers, but it seems logical that ingesting even trace amounts of artificial growth hormones, anti-biotics and pesticides would be detrimental to my health, even if approved for use and deemed as not a direct ingredient. I deserve to know if my food has come in contact with a substance that may compromise my health. In the case where a non-labeled food additive causes an ill-effect on health, without knowledge of that additive’s presence, we cannot make the necessary parallel to discontinue it’s use or understand personal allergies.One example of this is the right that orange growers have to spray their oranges with red dye that is known to be harmful to humans. The reason they can continue to this practice is the argument that people do not eat the peal, and therefore they are not ingesting the harmful additive. This argument should not have been legally validated for the simple reason that it is likely that one will eat orange sections after coming in contact with the harmful dye, not to mention the fact that orange peel is used in recipes. As a consumer, I deserve to know what all IS in my food, not what is NOT in my food. This is the only way I can make educated choices as to what to nourish my body with.